WICKED VETERANS MARCIE DODD AND ALLI MAUZEY JOIN THE SAN FRANCISCO COMPANY AS ELPHABA AND GLINDA ON JUNE 29

SAN FRANCISCO… WICKED veterans Marcie Dodd and Alli Mauzey are San Francisco’s new witches in the smash hit musical beginning June 29, 2010. This is a reunion for Marcie and Alli in their roles as Elphaba and Glinda respectively, and will mark the first time the two actresses are back on stage opposite each other since they played the roles on Broadway from November 2008 – February 2009. The actresses will take a final bow with WICKED when it closes on September 5, 2010.

WILL PLAY ITS LAST PERFORMANCE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2010. TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR ALL PERFORMANCES THROUGH END OF ENGAGEMENT

SAN FRANCISCO… The San Francisco production of the smash hit musical WICKED will play its final performance on Sunday, September 5, 2010, ending its record-breaking run at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets are now on sale for all performances through September 5th. Upon closing, WICKED will have played 660 performances and 12 previews.

WICKED, “the San Francisco-born musical that has conquered the world” (San Francisco Chronicle) , and which was recently called “the defining musical of the decade” by The New York Times, has already amassed over $1.8 billion globally in ticket sales and has been seen by over 23 million people worldwide. The show’s enormous popularity was instantly apparent in San Francisco-immediately after it opened, WICKED broke the one-week San Francisco box office record with gross ticket sales of $1,459,610.50 surpassing the record previously held by The Phantom of the Opera. Over one million patrons have seen WICKED in San Francisco, and to date the production has grossed over $75 million.

EDEN ESPINOSA RETURNS TO SAN FRANCISCO AS ‘ELPHABA’ IN THE SMASH HIT MUSICAL WICKED

SAN FRANCISCO… Eden Espinosa, who has performed the role of Elphaba to critical acclaim on Broadway, San Francisco, and in Los Angeles, will return to San Francisco to star in the open-ended engagement of WICKED now playing at the Orpheum Theatre. Since it’s opening in the Bay Area a year ago, WICKED has been seen by close to a million people. And the show continues to be a cultural phenomenon having just shattered its own record to become the highest grossing show in Broadway history.

Beginning March 2, Eden will be joining the San Francisco cast that currently includes Kendra Kassebaum, starring as Glinda. This will not be the first time that Eden and Kendra will perform these roles opposite each other on the stage of the Orpheum Theatre here in San Francisco. They appeared here together when the first national tour of WICKED played a sold-out limited 6-week engagement at the Orpheum Theatre in the summer of 2005.

“In celebration of the show’s one year anniversary, The San Francisco Museum of Performance & Design will present The Women of WICKED In Conversation and Song featuring appearances by Academy Award-winning Actress Patty Duke, Teal Wicks and Kendra Kassebaum. The event takes place on Monday, January 25 at 7pm at the Museum of Performance & Design, located on the Fourth Floor of the Veteran’s Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue at McAllister in San Francisco. For more information, visit the Museum’s website, www.mpdsf.org.”

Deets below. See you there! (Unless this performance just sold out, looking into it now….Uh oh, looks like it’s going to be tough to get into this one at this point, sorry to be a tease. But you, you’re resourceful – maybe you can figure out a way to get ticks at this late date.)

Teal Wicks (with belt!) as Elphaba and Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda. They both do a great job:

Are you like me, are you living in the Bay Area and yet you almost made it through all theaughts without having seen the Greatest Play of the Aughts?

Wicked – tickets on sale now at the Orpheum Theatre– is not your grandfather’s Broadway-style musical. (Actually, your grandfather’s Broadway-style musical is called South Pacific and it features dorsal male nudity, singing sailors, and cross-dressing and it’s leaving the Golden Gate Theatre in just five short days on October 25th, 2009.)

Anywho, these days the way to get a smash hit musical is through the power of sisterhood and female empowerment. Fine. After all, “It’s the girls, stupid.” But here’s the thing: Wicked is thoroughly enjoyable even if you’re not into sisterhood, empowerment ‘n stuff.

Teal Wicks (with belt!) as Elphaba and Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda. They both do a great job:

Click to expand

So there I am looking at the spectacle that is the end of the first act, with the Green Witch singing about (and simultaneously) Defying Gravity, and I’m watching the dry ice vapor streaming down, cascading into the orchestra pit, and I’m thinking, “Well, this is something.”

When you’re living in a town where Oktoberfest by the Bay costs $35 and all your entry fee gets you is the right to stand in line to get tokens to stand in line to get overpriced American beer to stand in line to look for a place to sit on the Dock of the Bay, it can be quite refreshing to see that you can get tickets to Wicked for $25 or $30, something like that.

And check out the Yelpers – they just love, love, love the show. Now Yelpers, just for you, if you show up late don’t complain about the small TVs they make you watch as you wait 15 minutes to get seated. Really, you’re lucky they let you in during the first act at all.

(Speaking of seats, I’m six foot one and a ton a funso it’s hard for me to set down in the old school Orpheum, San Francisco’s Elaborate Spanish Cathedral,without having one knee or the other bumping up against the metal seatbacks in front of me. Those seats were made for a thinner, shorter America. Oh well, I digress.)

Furthermore Yelpers, it’s not the Orpheum’s fault it’s hard to get a taxi after the show, it’s City policy right up there with “Transit First.” Find a buddy or two and just walk back to Union Square on Market Street – that might be quicker. Yelpers dismissed, carry on.

To recap: Fantastic, bargain, modern, amusing – it’s the greatest play of the aughts.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked follows these two unlikely friends and college roommates grow into very different women: The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Based on the Novel by Gregory Maguire, the music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell) with a Book by Winnie Holzman.

Creators
Directed by Joe Mantello
Musical Staging by Wayne Cilento
Scenic Design by Eugene Lee
Costume Design by Susan Hilferty
Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner
Sound Design by Tony Meola
Produced by Marc Platt, David Stone, Jon B. Platt
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Winnie Holzman
Based on the Novel by Gregory Maguire

Audience: Recommended age for children is 8 years and up. There is nothing of a vulgar or sexual nature, but there are adult themes. Everyone is required to have a ticket. Children under 4 years of age will not be admitted into the Orpheum Theater.

“Winner of 26 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Landof Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.”

Nicolas Dromard and Jonathan Ritter start in the V.I.P room and then take you around the place:

You’ll get to learn more about the show biz (it’s like no business you know) in the lobby and then it’s off to the theatre for a Q and A with some of the performers:

For $30, it’s a great deal for somebody who has seen, or somebody who wants to see, Wicked.

See you there!

BEHIND THE EMERALD CURTAIN, an exclusive look at the creative journey of WICKED, hosted by cast members from the show, will be offered every Saturday morning at 10 AM at the Orpheum Theatre.

The 90-minute experience gives audience members the unique opportunity to see what happens to make a big Broadway musical like WICKED come alive at every performance – everything from design and production to performance and marketing.

Tickets are $30, General Admission and available through shnsf.com, ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone and at the Orpheum Theatre Box Office.

BEHIND THE EMERALD CURTAIN is offered every Saturday morning at 10am. Also offered on Wednesday mornings, November 4, November 25, December 9 and December 23 at 10am.

Gaia knows that there’s no Kmart in San Francisco. (Can you imagine!) And yet, The Mart is sending “Street Teams” to The City on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 to “prowl” our sidewalks showing off the “quality and variety” of their Halloween costumes.

Ask them about Wicked, if you see them. Elphiba and Glinda should be big sellers this year. ..

Celebrate a ‘Totally Ghoul’ Halloween at Kmart

Kmart offers thousands of costumes plus a huge assortment of treats and a new online Halloween shop

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 12 – Families are getting into the spirit of Halloween this year with “Totally Ghoul” at Kmart. The retailer is offering an eye-popping assortment of thousands of costumes for men, women, teens and kids, as well as all the trimmings for the spookiest Halloween party house. Kmart has also enhanced the “Totally Ghoul” online experience with the debut of the “Costume Machine” and “Ghoul Me” tools.

“Halloween has become an increasingly universal celebration for all ages, and with that, Kmart expanded our costume assortment alone by more than 50 percent,” said Dev Mukherjee, SVP and president, Seasonal & Toys, Sears Holdings. “This year, Halloween falls on a weekend, so there will be more parties for kids and adults than usual. To help with the holiday festivities, Kmart has party décor, costumes and candy empowering customers to manage their lives as well as make the holiday affordable and over-the-top fun.”

Revelers can browse “Totally Ghoul” for thousands of costumes and the most coveted licensed merchandise from Transformers, Wizards of Waverly Place, GI Joe, Harry Potter, Bakugan, Star Trek, Super Why, Barbie(TM), Thumbelina, Bratz, Sesame Street and much more. Couples will find his-and-her costumes to transform themselves into Popeye and Olive Oyl, a Cave Couple and even a Wicked fairy tale.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, costumed “street teams” will prowl the sidewalks in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, to show passerby’s the amazing quality and variety of holiday attire available at Kmart.